Left Coast Portland

Bridge of the Gods.

As all my reader (haha.. aww, sad) know, I'm a major fan of Portland, Maine.  Last week, I had the opportunity to explore a bit of the Pacific Northwest.

I was expecting Portland, OR to be full of hipsters, yuppies, tons of green space, coffee, great restaurants, and pretty much a crunchy version of Disney World.  After 24 hours in Portland, I was pretty well convinced that I had taken the wrong plane and been let off in New Orleans.  

Voodoo donut.  I didn't finish it.

The Differences

1) Temperature is lower in Portland

2) More Starbucks locations

3) No mobile bachelor parties 

4) Fruit.  The fruit is amazing in Portland.

The Similarities

1) Great restaurant scene

2) Live music

3) A river runs through/ alongside it

4) Significant population of young homeless

5) Similar architecture.  Low slung bungalows abound

6) Tattoos, piercings and casual dress.

7) Oil, balsamic and hot pepper stores abound

Pupusas and Asian people.  

That's not me.

Anyway, we spent Saturday exploring Portland.  We crossed the Steel Bridge spanning the Willamette River to get to Voodoo Donuts, which featured a long line and so-so donuts.  That was a little disappointing.  Afterward, we spent some time at the Portland Saturday Market to check out the crafts and food stands.  We ended up getting some Pepper Pinot Beef Jerky and a pupusa.

Afterwards, we walked to the PSU Farmers Market, where we were treated to luscious blackberries and samples of salmon, peaches, cheeses, and oils. What an awesome time!  From the Farmers Market, we caught an Uber to Washington Park, were we explored parts of the Japanese Garden and the International Test Rose Garden.

After all of that nature, we walked to Parish for some oysters, drinks and gizzards (yum!), visited Powell's, walked  to the Lan Su Chinese Gardens to do some cultural exploration, and worked up our appetites by walking back over the river to the hotel to freshen up before dinner(s).

Chinatown

We decided to head over to EaT for happy hour oysters.  Along the way there, we passed The People's Pig, one of the chicken spots I'd researched prior to the trip.  We vowed to return after oysters.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, when we arrived at EaT, we realized it was the sister restaurant of Parish and had nearly identical menus.  Save the turtle soup.  Turtle soup was had.  It reminded us of Bermuda fish chowder, down to the added sherry.  

Turtle soup at EaT

Appetites mostly intact, we walked back to The People's Pig, where we partook of their famous smoked fried chicken.  What a great little place!  Located next to a fairly rustic-looking urban garden, its smokers were nestled among the recycling bins.  Inside the slow-slung building was a giant oven, tattooed cooks, a fantastic playlist, and absolutely, positively, no air conditioning.  

The People's Pig

The smoky goodness inside.

The People's smoker

After chicken, we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest.  I mean Bamboo Sushi. We had more food!  Apologies for the lack of pictures of actual food.  Total step count for the day: 24,614

Rice man @ Bamboo.
Not adults.  We are not adults.

Sunday morning, after a technical emergency that resulted in the loss of almost all of our pictures from Saturday, we picked up a rental car and headed to Columbia River Gorge area.  Multnomah Falls was the first on the list.  The hike to the top was invigorating, but not very rewarding.  Yeah, that's it.

View from the bottom

Top of Multnomah Falls.

Looking over the edge. View from the top: 2/10.

Midway up Multnomah, I think.
I forget.  I'm a terrible tourist.

 Then we went to visit Herman the Sturgeon and the Cascade Locks.

Old man Herman.

Herman's spawn

Salmon candy at the locks.

Dam.

Columbia River Gorge Interpretive Center after-hours.

 On the way home, we took advantage of the sparser crowds and visited Bridal Veil Falls.

Bridal Veil Falls

Sunset.

Seattle Eats! Smart Catch Dinner: sustainable, delicious, magnificent

If you haven't heard about Smart Catch, you're missing out!  From sponsor Vulcan's website: "Smart Catch is a program designed to increase demand and availability of sustainable seafood by working with chefs and restauranteurs. Smart Catch is working with chefs because they have the potential to make a significant impact in sustainable seafood.

The idea and initial funding for Smart Catch came from Vulcan Founder and Chairman Paul G. Allen, a long-time ocean advocate and explorer."

The program launched in Seattle this summer, and nine of the Seattle area's best chefs helped to kick off the program by showing their stuff at a four-night series of pop-up dinners at Seattle's Olympic Sculpture Park.

To no one's surprise, these dinners sold out in less than two minutes.  I was lucky enough to score four seats, giving two to our local host.

The dinner we attended was curated and cooked by none other than Chef Ron Anderson of Tom Douglas Restaurants and Chef Bobby Palmquist of the Walrus and the Carpenter.

The Menu.

The Venue.

Local Cider

First Course: Scallop

Second Course: Pacific Cod Ceviche

Third Course: Sockeye Salmon

Fourth Course: Cure Pollock

Sugar Cookie Dessert

Chef Ron

Chef Bobby

Road Trippin' to Rhode Island: WaterFire and Providence Oyster Bar

WaterFire in Providence, RI

A few weekends ago, we headed up to Providence to celebrate Michele's graduation.  No trip would be complete without a trip to a local oyster joint right?  Especially if arrival to said destination coincides with Happy Hour!  $1 oyster and clams, not to mention a discounted bar menu!   So how was it?  The clams at Providence Oyster Bar were the best clams I've ever had.  I'd go back just for the clams.  The rest of the good?  Maybe it was an off-night, but I'd go back just for the clams.

Afterwards, we strolled Little Italy and headed up to Michele's to pick her up for some culture and dinner.  Our trip coincided with the International Arts Festival, which introduced us to such oddities as SQUONK, building tape art, and Citizens Bank.  What?  Oh yeah, lots of corporate sponsors.

Where the clam magic happens:
Providence Oyster Bar

After we got our fill of Squonk (or is it SQUONK), we headed to dinner at a place called Local 121.  The pea avocado soup was the second highlight of the day.  The rest of teh soup?  The pea avocado soup was the second highlight of the day.

It seems like our restaurant experience included two restaurants with one stand-out dish.  But the clams and soup were REALLY good!  Afterwards, we headed to WaterFire.  What's WaterFire?  According to the website: "WaterFire Providence® is an independent, non-profit arts organization whose mission is to inspire Providence and its visitors by revitalizing the urban experience, fostering community engagement and creatively transforming the city by presenting WaterFire for all to enjoy."

Lights up close

We got to experience the full lighting, which means that over 80 braziers were lit from sunset to after midnight.  The river is lined with families, students, artsy people, and gawking tourists, all gazing at the fiery bowls and being slightly creeped out by the scary horror-movie music.  Just kidding.  Sort of.  When we arrived, said horror-music was playing, but eventually shifted to happier Celtic music.  If I'd gone as a kid during the scary session, I know I wouldn't have slept for a month after WaterFire...

Tourists

Pretty stars light up the park

2015 Road Trip

Two years of planning, eight days, three states, 1,246 road miles, one mechanical rooster, one zipline, and 129,432 footsteps later, B and I completed our epic southwest road trip.

Stop #1: Las Vegas, NV

Stop #2: Sedona, AZ

Stop #3: Grand Canyon National Park

Stop #4: Lake Powell and Antelope Canyon

Stop #4: Zion National Park

Stop #5: Bryce Canyon National Park

Stop #5: Salt Lake City, UT

Favorite picture of the trip

Horseshoe Bend: probably my best picture of trip

Most disgusting moment captured.  
The texture of the 'sand' and the smell is indescribable.

Springtime gardening

Tall scallions survived the winter.
The shorter ones are from this year.

I'm trying my hand at a garden at the new house again.  Last year, I had very limited success with "big box store" tomatoes and basil in a container garden, and one of my grandmother's tomato seedlings planted in the old hosta patch.  I also threw some scallions in for good measure.

This year, I'm trying again but working from seeds.  A few weeks ago, I germinated some beets, carrots and mint, and promptly let them dry out and die.  I also threw in some scallion bottoms for good measure.  

Tomatoes and basil.

Taking advantage of the good weather this weekend, I bought a few tomato and basil plants from Whole Foods and set out to plant whatever beet, scallion and carrot seedlings I could salvage. I also planted a few okra and jalapeno seeds.  Fingers crossed!

Carrots. Where?  Yikes.

2015's First and Last Day at the Beach

The pups took advantage of the last hours of the last weekend of beach access of the 2014-2015 season.  

Wind in my fur.

Serious business.

Let's go!

Exploring Singer.

What are you looking at?

All done.

Satisfied.

Newport Beach, California

Is this thing the Table Rock?

Newport Beach: I embarked upon the trip with low expectations and emerged a convert. How great could four days and three nights be in SoCal in winter? What the heck is there to do out there?

Whale watched.

Well, according to Groupon, plenty! I learned that I could Segway tour, Jetpack, watch whales, get my nails done, watch the sunset, and eat on the cheap-ish. I ultimately purchased three Groupons prior to heading west: a whale-watching cruise, a sunset cruise and a dining Groupon to Woody's Wharf. While we ended up having to cancel the whale watching tour, which would have had us out on open water, we did manage to see plenty of whales, dolphins, sea lions, and a skate from the shore.

Sea lion.

We booked a room at the Little Inn by the Bay, which had equal numbers of terrific and terrible reviews. They ranged from "The horror, it's next to a liquor store!" to "This place is fantastic, it's next to a liquor store!" While the hotel was close to the restaurant district, at over $200 a night on Hotels.com, I was leaning towards a nicer looker, but less walkable Holiday Inn. By chance, we found the same hotel on Priceline for $50 less per night and ended up taking a gamble on the Little Inn by the Bay. 

SO GLAD WE DID! This little place was awesome. Yes, it looks like a motel on the outside, and there is no free breakfast, but other than that, I couldn't have asked for more. (Ok, maybe a better laid out bathroom, but really, that's it.) The linens weren't rough, the towels were new, there was a fridge and microwave in the room, and the AC worked. There were free bikes. The Inn was a block and a half from the beach. The water pressure was strong and the water was hot. I will definitely be back. Ok, enough with the hotel accolades. What did we do, see and eat?

The pass at The Crab Cooker

Thursday: After four flight delays that threatened to leave me despondent in Dallas, I finally arrived in Huntington Beach at around 3:30 pm. I got a free upgrade from National, and was soon tooling around HB in a cute little white hybrid Passat. This took getting used to, because every time the car went silent, I feared that I had stalled out. We ended up catching the sunset on the beach and grabbing drinks and some ceviche at Sandy's. Great start! After our snacks, we headed south towards our hotel in Newport Beach, passing by a giant Woody's Diner (not Woody's Wharf of Groupon fame..), and locating our hotel. It was, as the reviews promised, right next to a liquor store and across the street from a donut shop. We threw on some evening attire (flip flops and a tank top) and decided to explore the area. Not two blocks away from the hotel, we stumbled upon Woody's Wharf! All in all, we got a seat by the window, the waiter was great, the food was decent, but nothing to write home about. We grabbed some drinks at the "liquor store" on the way back to the hotel. It was basically any gas station convenience store you'd find with two refrigerated cases in the back. It wasn't at all the alcoholic gathering place certain TripAdvisor reviews led me to believe.

Bluewater Grill's bar menu. Don't stray from it!

Friday: Headed out by foot to find The Stuft Surfer, a place recommended for it's authentic burrito-type fair. On the way there,we stumbled across one of the must-eat places, The Crab Cooker, and decided to change course. Unfortunately, we were there half an hour before they opened. Back to Plan A it was. Unfortunately, we were there too early for anything other than breakfast food. We grabbed a frozen cappucino, some pictures, and headed back to the Crab Cooker. At the Crab Cooker, we had some soft shell crabs, some fish(?) and some Dungeness crab. I couldn't convince the waitress to give me the shell with the tomalley inside though. :(

82 during the day, chillier at night.

Afterwards, we headed to Balboa Peninsula where we caught a ferry to Balboa island and dreamed about retirement. After some strolling and FitBit step accumulation, we headed down to the NB pier to catch the last moments of the sunset and to game plan for dinner. Unfortunately, our trip's proximity to Valentine's day meant that most restaurants were packed. We did manage to get into the Bluewater Grill, near Lido. The meal started off strong with a fantastic Tuna Poke and Fanny Bay Oysters, but the entrees were lackluster. I ended up sending back a red snapper that tasted and felt suspiciously like a much oilier cod. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to get changed for some harbor watching.

Birdlife at Mozambique.

Saturday: Laguna Beach, Table Rock Beach, Mozambique, magical delicious peri-peri sauce, exotic birds. funnel cake, biking on the boardwalk, free drink and chips at Sharkeez, oysters at Oceanfront 21. Strolling under the stars. Soundtrack: Coldplay's Yellow.
Sad, sad Sunday: With a noon flight, we didn't have time to see much, and our early flight meant we'd have to miss the HB brunch we'd been contemplating. AYCE king crab? Yes please, next time! We ended up at a well-rated local breakfast joint called My Galley where I grabbed a lox bagel to eat on the beach and horsed around in the lifeguard stands. Also, a lime popsicle for the road at a small grocer next door. 

Best bagel backdrop I've experienced.

8/10 on the form...